Archive for January, 2013

“I want people to feel good about listening to this record.”

Courtesy Colombia Records

Word spread Monday that Depeche Mode‘s first single titled “Heaven” from the forthcoming album Delta Machine would make its radio debut this Thursday. In a surprise move, the song was world premiered this morning by KROQ Los Angeles morning show hosts Kevin & Bean.

Buzz on the new material has been strong with chief songwriter Martin Gore stating that the new album back to the band’s glory days. “It’s got a bit of a feel of Violator on some of the songs and a feel of Songs of Faith and Devotion on other songs,” said Gore. “It’s a bit of a hybrid of those two for me.”

Watch the video below:

Delta Machine, their long-awaited 13th studio full-length, on March 26. The album was recorded over the past year in Santa Barbara, CA (home to the band’s main songwriter, Martin Gore) and New York City, produced by Ben Hillier and mixed by long-time DM associate Flood.

first off, the new album. it’s got a title (Comedown Machine). it’s got artwork (see right). it’s got a release date (3/26 in the U.S. and 3/25 in the U.K. for other international release dates, best to check your local media for upcoming news). you can also preorder it in the band’s store. head over to thestrokes.com for more.

next up, the single…

the first official single is called “all the time” and we’ll have it ready for you on 2/19 when it will be available as an instant download for anyone that preorders “Comedown Machine” @ iTunes or the strokes store.

hopefully you’ll be hearing it on the radio before then though. if not, call your local radio stations and ask them to play “all the time”… they’ll have the track in house by valentine’s day, but probably not before.

that’s right, free. in case you haven’t heard, last friday, we posted a free song from “Comedown Machine” atthestrokes.com. it’s called “one way trigger”. it won’t be free forever so go download your copy now or you’ll have to wait for the full-length album to come out soon.

oh, and if you’re one of the new folks to join our list through this promo, now’s probably a good a time as any to say “welcome!” from all of us. so, welcome! you’ll be hearing from me plenty more as we get closer to 3/26, though i think that’s just about enough for now.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Two-time Academy Award® winner Barbra Streisand, who has sung on the Oscars only once before, will perform on the upcoming Oscar® telecast on February 24. Streisand last sang the love theme from “A Star Is Born” on the March 28, 1977 show, winning the Best Original Song Oscar for “Evergreen” that same night.

“In an evening that celebrates the artistry of movies and music,” said producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, “how could the telecast be complete without Barbra Streisand? We are honored that she has agreed to do a very special performance on this year’s Oscars, her first time singing on the show in 36 years.”

Streisand won her first Oscar for Best Actress in “Funny Girl” (1968), and was nominated again in 1973 for her lead performance in “The Way We Were.” She was also nominated for producing the Best Picture nominee “The Prince of Tides” (1991), which she also directed, and for co-writing the original song “I Finally Found Someone” from “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996).

Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.ABOUT CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are producers of critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films, television movies, series, and Broadway productions. Their feature films include The Bucket List, Footloose, Hairspray, and Chicago, which won six Academy Awards including one for “Best Picture.” For television, they’ve produced films of “Steel Magnolias,” “Life with Judy Garland,” and “A Raisin in the Sun,” among many others and the series “Smash” and “Drop Dead Diva.” They recently returned to their roots in live theater by producing Broadway revivals of the Tony-winning “Promises, Promises” and the Tony-winning 50th Anniversary revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

As the Times reports, the comparatively teensy amount artists earn from streaming services has caused concern throughout the industry.

While the average musician might earn 7 to 10 cents on an iTunes download, artists receive a fraction of a fraction of a cent each time their songs are played on streaming services. That’s not terrible if you’re Psy, who a Google executive recently said had earned $8 million on the 1.2 billion views for “Gangnam Style,” a rate of roughly 0.6 cents per view. It’s less good if you’re Zoe Keating, a self-described “avant cello” musician who late last year revealed that despite getting more than 1.5 million plays on Pandora in a six-month span, she received less than $1,700. Spotify was a bit kinder: Her 131,000 plays last year yielded almost $550.

Artists might dream of penny royalties, but streaming service providers are swimming in big bucks. Pandora is publicly traded, with a share price that values it at nearly $2 billion. Spotify isn’t public, but its investors have reportedly pegged its value at $3 billion. To put that into perspective, the entire music industry saw revenues of roughly $7 billion in 2011, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Streaming service companies might be worth a lot on paper, but they’re not contributing much to the record business just yet. Pandora had $202 million in “content acquisition costs” in its last four reported quarters, and Spotify recently said it had made $500 million in royalty payments, the Times notes. That pales in comparison to music downloads’ $2.6 billion in 2011 sales.

Album Review: Pillowfight – Pillowfight

Throughout the 43 minutes of Pillowfight’s self-titled debut LP, vocalist/lyricist/violinist Emily Wells constructs verses that challenge Taylor Swift for the accolade of most innocent pop songstress. Backed by Dan the Automator’s collection of subtle ivory runs, muffled trumpet trills, and abbreviated string arrangements, Wells recounts the frustrations of a tumultuous relationship on “Sleeping Dogs”: “I can’t seem to give up, please don’t say goodbye / I’ll call you up and say, ‘I’ve been thinkin’ bout you baby and I’m back to stay’ / You were never just a memory, I knew we’d meet again / Thank you for forgiveness, thanks for giving in.” Fortunately for Swift, the darker side of Well’s past relationships, most vividly recalled on album opener “Used to Think”, eliminate her from such a prize.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/14rJF8G

Fourteen years Wells’s senior, Dan the Automator has stepped up as a mentor for her ongoing unification of classical music with hip-hop. Dan may have multiple hits credited to his production, but no ego avails on Pillowfight, as he chooses instead to tone down his own propensity for sample-oddities to focus on tones of Wells’ voice and visceral lyrical expressions. This is certainly a project that deserves further attention from each artist.

Tegan & Sara were once heralded for their folky indie-rock sound. But as of late, the twin sisters have become an even bigger mainstream success, riding their self-made wave of 80′s inspired pop-rock-infused love songs. With their latest album Heartthrob taking on even happier synth sounds, unbridled love and sexual overtones, could they be the Vince Clarke and Andy Bell (Erasure) of 2013?

Building a base of real rock fans hit high gear when The Black Keys asked them to open a series of concert dates last October. “This is the thing, people that like licks, also like dance hits,” joked Tegan in an interview. But according to Sara, rock’s not the only genre they’d like to conquer. Although the duo recently collaborated with dance maven David Guetta, Sara said she’d even enjoy working with the masters of metal, Mastadon, proving the girls are truly up for anything.

Discussing the weathered look of the album art, Sara confesses, “I love the idea that we make these albums and that they feel so in the moment and modern and vibrant and relevant and then like in two years, you feel it sort of slip away.”

Heartthrob hits stores tomorrow, January 29th. Listen to the album in its entirety here.

The pair stopped by the set of Late Night With David Letterman last night, continuing to thrill fans with their eccentric stage presence. Watch the video above to catch a glimpse of the musical chemistry that made their 2012 collaborative release Love This Giant such a success.

Revered early-‘00s New York rockers the Strokes surprised fans by releasing a new song today (January 25), “One Way Trigger,” offering it as a free download on the band’s official website.

Bearing little resemblance to the band’s spiky, angular hits like “Hard to Explain” and “Juicebox,” the new song features a jaunty synthesizer riff and unexpectedly light, falsetto vocals from the band’s singer Julian Casablancas. Closer in tenor to Casablanca’s 2009 solo album, Phrazes for the Young, “One Way Trigger” eschews the Strokes’ trademark downtown grit for something much catchier and poppy, especially considering the song’s main melody striking a strong resemblance to A-Ha’s ‘80s smash hit, “Take on Me.”

In 2009, Quentin Tarantino did a brief interview with Sky Movies ahead of the release of Inglorious Bastards. Long regarded as a walking movie encyclopedia, Tarantino rattled off a list of his 20 favorite films since 1992 — the year he made his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs. Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale is the only film the director cited as his runaway pick for number one, but he declined to rank the others, opting instead to name them in alphabetical order (listed below).

UK modern rock power trio Muse has revealed big plans for their performance during the upcoming BRIT Awards, where the band is nominated for Best British Group and Best Live Act.

“We’re going to perform there hopefully with a full orchestra and choir to do a full rendition of ‘Supremacy,’ which is the first song on the album,” singer Matt Bellamy said during an exclusive interview with Radio.com in regards to the latest single from the band’s most recent full-length, The 2nd Law. “It’ll be nice to perform that with an orchestra.

Read more interview with Bellamy here: http://bit.ly/124MYUD

The 2013 BRIT Awards are scheduled for February 20 at London’s O2 Arena, ten days after the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 10 at 8 p.m., where Muse is up for Best Rock Album (The 2nd Law) and Best Rock Song (“Madness”).